Global Handwashing Day

GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN, TEST, AND REPLICATE CREATIVE WAYS TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO WASH THEIR HANDS WITH SOAP AT CRITICAL TIMES. Recent years have seen a rise in hand hygiene commitment and action . While great strides have been made, we must triple our current efforts to achieve global hand hygiene targets . Through strong leadership and collective efforts, we can close gaps in access and practice to achieve hand hygiene for all .  Everyone has a role to play to ensure clean hands are within reach.

From launching a Global Handwashing Day campaign to learning more about hygiene , there is something that everyone can do to promote handwashing .  Hands are the part of the body that are most exposed to germs and substances in every environment shared with other people. Be it your home, office, schools, hospitals, shopping centres or public transport, you can pick up unwanted germs and transmit them to your mouth or to other objects or people. As 80% of communicable diseases are transferred by touch, many germs that can make people sick are spread when we don’t wash our hands with soap and clean, running water. It is basic and recognized that handwashing with soap for at least 20 seconds , removes germs from hands that will prevent the  spreading of infections since germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth or just by contact with surfaces. Simple facts like knowing that washing hands can reduce the number of people getting sick with diarrhea by 23 to ...

The Clean, Fed & Nurtured Community of Practice hosted a Webinar with Dr. Marie T. Ruel on the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration. Dr. Ruel is the Director of the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division , and the lead author of the 2013 Lancet Series paper: Nutrition-sensitive interventions and programmes: how can they help to accelerate progress in improving maternal and child nutrition ?  Clean, Fed & Nurtured is a global community of practice that brings together the sectors of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (WASH) , nutrition, and ECD to promote child growth and development.

  The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing is taking this opportunity to host a webinar discussing the importance of hand hygiene in healthcare , the challenges of achieving good hand hygiene , and lessons for improving hand hygiene in healthcare. Hear from experts from the World Health Organization , the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , and Johns Hopkins University on:  - Why hand hygiene is so important in healthcare ? - The state of hand hygiene in healthcare facilities around the world. - Hand hygiene lessons from Ebola.  - How to achieve hand hygiene behavior change: lessons from outside healthcare?